Red Sky at Night

A full moon and very dramatic clouds last night made us hopeful... but this morning, still no baby. 

Today Is...

* one day before my official due date

* exactly four weeks since the doctor told us Tilly would be coming any day now

* the day I've discovered that my tiny spandex yoga shorts still fit me, and are the most comfortable thing

* probably the day I'll give up on any pretense of lady-like decency and wear tiny spandex yoga shorts to the doctor's office

A Glimpse of Texas

Yes, I know, you're stopping by to see if there are baby photos yet.

Sorry, not today...

just a very round Astrid, and her boots and hat.

All We Are Wondering

Another weekend has almost passed

and all we are wondering

is whether Father's Day will be the day

that Justin becomes a father.

-----

P.S.

In Texas, there are trees

eight or nine feet tall

that look like enormous flowers.

Everywhere.

It's beautiful.

Texas Reds Festival

Today, feeling ambitious, we went to the Texas Reds festival of steak and wine in downtown Bryan. What an experience! The streets were clouded with the smoke and smell of cooking steak, chicken, corn and all manner of other delights.

We strolled around, taking in all the amazing people, and stopping to rest every now and then to eat, drink lots of water, and listen to a wonderful variety of jazz, rock, and country music.

Everyone was so incredibly nice to pregnant old me... we got free parking when the attendants noticed a baby seat in the car, free water bottles, free hugs, and plenty of smiles and friendly remarks about my belly and cowboy hat! We even met a labour nurse from the hospital, who said if we came in on Monday night, she'd be there to help us!

Now, time to put those fat feet up, and hope all that walking and the vibrations from the music have gotten Tilly excited to come out!

So Much Love

There are some people who would go to the ends of the Earth for you.

Okay, China might not quite be the end of the Earth, but I'd say it's pretty close when most people were coming from America, England, or Denmark.

And when I think back to our wedding day, as well as being filled with love for my husband, I'm overcome with how much I love all of the people who made such an effort to be with us on that special day.

Immediate family, second cousins,

friends from childhood, friends from university,

some people I hadn't seen in years.

But somehow, over the course of the week of sight-seeing and fun before the wedding, it stopped being important how exactly people were related, or how long it had been since we'd seen each other. All that mattered was that we were in Beijing together, and that each of these people had chosen to be there with us.

No doubt making sacrifices of time, money, and other plans to do so.

And I feel so incredibly grateful to these people, who showed us that our family really means something to them. It's not just a word you use to define how so-and-so is related to you, it's a real bond that drives you to be active and connect and show those people that they matter to you.

So, this date reminds me not just of the beginning of my marriage, but of the wonderful family I have, who don't just say they 'would' go to the end of the Earth for me, but have done it, and proved it, and are stamped on my heart in a way that won't ever be forgotten.

Two Years

Two years ago today

with the Great Wall of China just visible

through the mist of the mountains behind us

we were married

Two years ago today

with our family and friends smiling

beneath pink parasols beside us

we started our life together

Two years ago today

we would never have dreamt

we'd be so blessed

and about to become three

Gemma Correll

An ordinary day, an ordinary trip to the postbox, an ordinary-looking brown paper envelope. But, inside that envelope is something special.

It's a piece by one of my favourite artists, the Norwich-based Gemma Correll, whose drawings of her diary entries I stumbled across about a year ago. I've always wanted to order a print from her, but have never been able to pick from all of her lovely designs!

But here, in paper and ink in front of me, is not just a print of her work, but a personalised original, dedicated to our little Matilda:

I'm a bit in shock. It's so beautiful, and such a thoughtful thoughtful present from my lovely brother, Jesper, and his lovely girlfriend, Gemma, who know how much I love this artist. I can't wait to hang it in the nursery... I'm just trying to decide which wall will do it justice!

39 Weeks

Some days feel quite clouded over by

sore feet

sore legs

and uncontrollable grumpiness

but we try to remember that the clouds are parting

slowly, each day

and the bright life of Tilly

will soon come shining through.

You're Just My Cup of Tea

And the teapots are done...

I really enjoyed the freehand, raggedy-edge style of embroidery that gives the teapots definition, while letting the fabric have a bit of character. Thank you, thank you, Tine Wiggens, for the inspiration.

Of course, while stitching, it only felt right to have non-stop tea on the go. De-caf, yes, but it still somehow manages to keep me going. Perhaps the energy boost is in my head.

I pulled out my lovely "Rainbow of Stitches" book to find a manageable alphabet style for the lettering. Their art deco script --just using back-stitch, so easy!-- was perfect.

I searched for a long time to find a suitable quote. Originally, it was going to say "Tea Time", but I thought I'd get a bit bored of that after a week or so.

There was a lovely saying I found, "Bread and water can so easily be toast and tea," which almost won out, but that did seem like quite a lot of words to squeeze into a small space, so we ended up with the simple, romantic "You're just my cup of tea."

Or, as my dear husband likes to read it: "You're Justin my cup of tea!"

A quick iron, and Justin got them up and hanging on the wall just in time for our friends coming over last night. Team work!

And one of the loveliest things I'm finding about a project that uses so many different scraps of fabric is that it recalls all of the other things I've made. There's a bit of material from Justin's tiger quilt, a bit of Remington's shirt, a bit of Felicity's boots, plenty of Tilly's playmat, our placemats, a couple of our positive-thinking hearts, the family heart, and lots of well-loved clothing from both Justin and I. It's like a little display of memories in tea cup form!

My Weekend in Numbers

Number of babies delivered: 0

Number of tea cups cut and sewn onto linen: 20

Number of times I've felt it might be time to go to the hospital: 0

Number of episodes of The Office watched: 9

Number of teapots cut and sewn: 2, with the third in progress right now.

I keep thinking that the next crafty project I start is the one I won't be able to finish. I'm not supposed to finish the teapots, or the tea cups. I wasn't supposed to finish the scrapbook of Tucson. And before that, I wasn't supposed to finish the foxes or the fabric hearts or the mobile. And though I'm rather glad to have all these lovely finished things, rather than having them piled in progress around the house, I am really looking forward to the project that I'll have to put aside and leave in pieces while we rush off to have Tilly.

Little Boots

I can't wait to see what sort of mixture

of Texan and British

Tilly turns out to be.

I have to confess

I'd love for her to speak with an English accent

while stomping around

of course

in her cowboy boots.

Thankful Thursday

Dear Shadow,

Thank you for sticking by me, going where I go, and getting all big and fat with me these last few months. I like the way you smooth things down, and simplify my lines, just the opposite of the mirror and its bright, crass, reflective details. I know it's been raining the last few days and I haven't seen much of you, but it was nice to catch a glimpse of you this morning with your scraggly little bed-head ponytail. We'll be out playing in the sunshine again in no time, I'm sure.

Love, Astrid

Bunting

You might remember, I was very inspired by beautiful bunting hung in nurseries. It's a lovely way of adding colour and patterns.

You might also remember Justin's reaction to the idea: "But it reminds me of used-car dealers!"

With another day at home, and a little more energy than usual, I couldn't resist giving it a try. And though fabric flags look lovely and hang beautifully, my lack of pinking shears plus my lack of motivation to hem edges led me to use some brightly patterned scrapbook paper, instead! I simply took squares of 12" by 12" paper, and cut diagonally down from each top corner to the centre of the bottom edge to make the triangular flag shape.

The letters of her name are cut from plain brown paper, and glued on. Then, little holes are punched out along the tops of the flags, and a piece of long string threaded through. (I taped the string to the back of the flags to prevent them all sliding together).

Oh, and Justin approves. "It's nothing like a car lot," he assured me. High praise, indeed!

We thought Tilly might be on her way last night, with an hour or two of stronger contractions, but I guess it was just a bit of practice! And though we're so eager to meet her, we did enjoy a nice full night's sleep last night instead, which seems like more and more of a blessing each day!